0:00:10.570,0:00:16.880
I start with a question: [br]can food communicate with our DNA?

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And if it communicates with our DNA, [br]can it affect health?

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Let's think of a first image, the bees.

0:00:25.580,0:00:31.240
We have three bees: the worker bee,[br]the drone, and the queen bee.

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All three have the same DNA,[br]the same genome;

0:00:35.800,0:00:40.649
but the queen was fed by larvae

0:00:40.649,0:00:44.600
with a different food: royal jelly.

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And as we can see,[br]the queen's dimensions are different.

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But not just the size:[br]her function is different.

0:00:53.229,0:00:55.520
It is the only one, inside the hive,

0:00:55.520,0:00:59.360
that can mate and give rise[br]to a new colony.

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So the food communicated[br]something to the DNA,

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because they all have the same DNA.

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And we need to go,[br]in order to understand that,

0:01:07.830,0:01:11.320
into the small core of our cells.

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Two microns, enclosing[br]three billion bases,

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which is our two meters long,[br]extremely packaged genome.

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Think that in the late 90s

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it was thought that the study[br]of the human genome

0:01:26.360,0:01:29.920
would have provided great answers

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both in understanding diseases[br]but also in understanding the DNA.

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It soon became clear,[br]we were only at the beginning,

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because only 2-3 percent of DNA[br]encodes for a protein,

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and therefore a function.

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Everything else - think, 98 percent -

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is a DNA that at the time[br]was considered junk DNA,

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sorry for the English term,

0:01:53.178,0:01:56.080
junk that served as a backup

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to ensure that mutations[br]did not fall on genes.

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In fact this DNA turned out to be

0:02:02.840,0:02:05.042
the beginning of a new adventure:

0:02:05.042,0:02:09.179
this DNA was functional[br]to regulate the expression of genes.

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How's that?

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There are chemical markers on DNA,

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flags that are affixed to DNA[br]during development.

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These flags,

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which can be directed either on the DNA[br]or on the proteins that wrap the DNA,

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or even on some RNA, which are[br]the mold of anti-sense DNA,

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are affixed during development

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so that the cells[br]can perform their function.

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Mind you, we have[br]the same DNA in our cells,

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in each of our cells.

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But each cell operates differently. Why?

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Because it has the first parts[br]of DNA which are different,

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thanks to these flags,[br]these markers that say to a gene:

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you have to be expressed in this cell,

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you have to make sure[br]that this cell has this function,

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and that another cell has another one.

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To better understand,

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let's imagine that our DNA[br]is an orchestral score,

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and that genes are the instruments.

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If you play all together,

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there would be no harmony,[br]there would be no symphony.

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It wouldn't be the music,[br]there'd just be noise.

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Actually, every gene knows perfectly well,[br]thanks to these flags, these markers,

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when to start working,[br]when to play, to shut up,

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whether to play loud or slow.

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This harmony takes place[br]every second, every instant

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within our cells.

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And there is a study,[br]an extremely interesting study,

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done on mice -

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in biology we always start[br]from an experimental model,

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and often on mice.

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Two mothers with the same genetics[br]were given food to eat.

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Mother was fed with low-nutrient food;

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another mother was fed[br]a nutrient-rich food.

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And especially rich in vitamins,[br]specific nutrients.

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The result of this was,

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the pups of these two mothers[br]had a phenotype,

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that is, an evidence of what[br]they are different in -

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even the color of the coat changed,

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because the food has communicated[br]something different

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during the development[br]of these these pups, to the genes.

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So let's think about food at present.

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We have on this small planet,[br]as Edgar Morin says,

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people dying of hunger;[br]people who eat in excess;

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we waste food.

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We have people who get sick[br]because they eat too much, too bad.

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And we also have a paradoxical situation,[br]called "nutritional desert":

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I leave home, and in ten minutes

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I can not find any food rich in vitamins.

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I can only recover the so-called -

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I don't like the term,[br]as food must always be respected -

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food that has only calories[br]but no essential nutrients.

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And the most interesting thing

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is that the environment, food,[br]lifestyle and even emotions

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can edit DNA.

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They can talk with the DNA.

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And this writing can be transmitted -

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especially during the first[br]1000 days of the child's life,

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from conception to the third year of age -

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this writing can also be transferred[br]from one generation to another.

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There is evidence, historical evidence[br]of this intergenerational transfer

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of how much the environment, and food,

0:05:44.720,0:05:49.110
influenced the health[br]of subsequent generations.

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This is a historical study,[br]which took place in Holland.

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A population of 45 million[br]Dutch people was studied,

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who during World War II

0:05:58.760,0:06:01.560
was confined to a very[br]restricted area of the Netherlands.

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It was winter: on one side[br]there were the German troops,

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on the other side the frozen canals.

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This population lived[br]for about nine months

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eating very little,[br]they were almost starving:

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they even came to eat[br]the bulbs of the tulips.

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And it was calculated,[br]they ate about 500 kcal per day.

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We then studied the babies

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born from them pregnant mothers.

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These children maintained[br]their mothers' programming:

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their mothers lived without food,

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and when these children

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were born they were programmed[br]to resist the absence of food.

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When the war was over,[br]they had access to food

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and these children were more exposed[br]to health vulnerablity:

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more exposed to diabetes, obesity,[br]overweight, cardiovascular disease

0:07:00.820,0:07:02.190
and even cancer.

0:07:02.190,0:07:05.330
And this vulnerability,[br]this increase in risk

0:07:05.330,0:07:08.870
also reappeared in the second generation

0:07:08.870,0:07:12.870
and now we are studying[br]the third generation.

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We must think of the small scale,

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so that the small can suggest actions[br]to be taken on the large scale,

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to improve our society, and also[br]the health expectancy of our society,

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and rethink the origin of diseases.

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And that is the best way[br]to promote health:

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bring the science of the small scale,

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these wonderful mechanisms[br]that occur in our cells,

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in the great choices.

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Invest especially in the social classes

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that are less aware of all this.

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They have access to poor food,

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because it is cheap,[br]and maybe they have a low income,

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and they may also have[br]a low level of education

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that cannot allow them to access[br]these types of messages.

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Above all, investing in mothers,

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[Right to health / Health and Equity]

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because the right to health,[br]also enshrined in the Constitution,

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is also a right[br]of intergenerational justice.

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We must care about our health,[br]because it is a precious good,

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but we must also think,[br]we can pass it on to the next generations.

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Then we need to wake up a little bit,[br]and this is my awakening.

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There is an origin that gives[br]a greater vulnerability to disease:

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the first thousand days[br]of the child's life are important.

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And there is perhaps -[br]this is a question I often ask myself -

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a silent evolution that leads a society

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to have a different health perspective

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because their access to food is different.

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And will this evolution continue?

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Fortunately, it can be reversible[br]if conditions change.

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And if the mom's food, our food, changes.

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So, if it is true that it is important,

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for the health of the unborn[br]and of the following generations,

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the environment and the food[br]that mother eats,

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then we must take care of the food

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and everything that surrounds[br]the mothers, their environment,

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around what are the new lives.

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So we have to consider[br]every eating moment.

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And curate this moment.

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It can be the hospital:

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we can't forget, treat food[br]like yet another hotel service.

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Food must convey values:

0:09:32.680,0:09:35.640
it must also be deemed important,[br]and promote health.

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Many parents, in schools,

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are more concerned[br]if the children do not eat,

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but never worry if the child eats badly.

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Always the worry: my son doesn't eat.

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But let's worry about what they eat,

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let's worry if what he eats[br]is important for his health.

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Then there are companies:

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at any time, but also among friends,

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a health marketing that can also span[br]across different social worlds.

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We think in every moment that we eat

0:10:04.960,0:10:07.600
how much we can communicate through food.

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It must always be good,[br]but also functional to health.

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Because food is an interconnection

0:10:15.880,0:10:20.350
between our past, our present[br]but also our future.

0:10:20.350,0:10:22.990
It connects us with the Earth,[br]because food is work:

0:10:22.990,0:10:26.471
it is produced and transformed,[br]we must respect it.

0:10:26.471,0:10:29.160
With human beings, with the environment.

0:10:29.160,0:10:32.080
A great English agronomist said

0:10:32.080,0:10:38.040
that the health of man, animals,[br]land, water and air

0:10:38.040,0:10:40.270
is unique and indivisible.

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Consider also: we feed on molecules,[br]which are carbohydrates,

0:10:45.630,0:10:51.464
where the carbon is[br]in a high energy chemical bond.

0:10:51.464,0:10:54.110
But where does this[br]high energy bond come from?

0:10:54.270,0:10:55.280
From the plants!

0:10:55.280,0:10:58.960
And plants, on the other hand,[br]use solar energy

0:10:59.450,0:11:03.080
to transform a carbon molecule,[br]with a low-energy CO2 bond,

0:11:03.080,0:11:04.813
into high-energy oxygen.

0:11:04.813,0:11:06.160
For the transitive property,

0:11:06.160,0:11:09.238
we can say that we eat[br]thanks to the energy of the Sun.

0:11:09.238,0:11:13.030
So we have to respect[br]this kind of environment around us

0:11:13.030,0:11:16.613
which allow us to be part of our history.

0:11:16.613,0:11:20.480
Let's think of the scents[br]that evoke emotions,

0:11:20.480,0:11:22.880
the scents of our grandmother's kitchen.

0:11:22.880,0:11:25.000
Let's think of Proust and the Madeleines.

0:11:25.000,0:11:29.760
Let's think about how much[br]food binds tradition, history:

0:11:29.760,0:11:33.980
it is part of our past,[br]but it is also part of our future,

0:11:33.980,0:11:35.060
And it is also part

0:11:35.060,0:11:38.199
of what we can transfer[br]to future generations.

0:11:38.199,0:11:42.360
Sometimes, however,[br]you also eat standard foods,

0:11:42.360,0:11:45.760
with standard scents and standard flavors,

0:11:45.760,0:11:48.040
and I think this is disqualifying

0:11:48.040,0:11:50.343
for taste, our organ of sense.

0:11:50.343,0:11:52.540
We have five sense organs,

0:11:52.540,0:11:55.240
and the sense organ of taste[br]is a wonderful organ:

0:11:55.240,0:11:57.560
we have five tastes through taste,

0:11:57.560,0:12:00.960
but through the vomer-nasal organ[br]and the sense of smell

0:12:00.960,0:12:04.440
millions of possibilities[br]to appreciate flavors and aromas.

0:12:04.440,0:12:07.280
Sometimes the food[br]is industrial, very processed.

0:12:07.280,0:12:10.320
A food that endlessly repeats itself.

0:12:11.320,0:12:13.830
And we must invest in the culture of food.

0:12:13.830,0:12:16.156
Which is a different culture[br]from prevention,

0:12:16.156,0:12:19.160
but they can really have links in common.

0:12:19.590,0:12:23.350
Also, nourishing and loving[br]are a mother's first acts.

0:12:23.350,0:12:26.000
A feeding food is a loving food.

0:12:26.230,0:12:29.000
And then, of course, our traditions.

0:12:29.000,0:12:30.984
Our traditions account for a distinction

0:12:30.984,0:12:33.600
between a daily diet,[br]with frugal but still tasty food,

0:12:33.600,0:12:36.250
and a holiday that we have[br]to expect and wait

0:12:36.250,0:12:40.520
so we can share a richer food[br]with our beloved relatives.

0:12:41.210,0:12:43.520
Then what is epigenetics?

0:12:43.520,0:12:46.450
From "epi", Greek, "above" DNA.

0:12:46.450,0:12:49.020
All these modifications on top of the DNA.

0:12:49.020,0:12:53.720
It is a bridge that links[br]the environment - alas, even pollution -

0:12:53.720,0:12:59.820
emotions, food, that encompasses[br]all this, to our DNA.

0:12:59.820,0:13:04.700
We thought of DNA as an immutable code:

0:13:04.700,0:13:08.170
tall, short, blue eyes, black eyes.

0:13:08.170,0:13:11.800
In fact, we understood,[br]through these latest studies -

0:13:11.800,0:13:18.040
there are not so recent,[br]because they dates back to 15 years ago -

0:13:18.040,0:13:20.040
that we can have a dialogue with our DNA,

0:13:20.040,0:13:23.400
and we can also transfer our history

0:13:23.400,0:13:24.920
to the following generations.

0:13:25.400,0:13:31.200
And in fact I think, a fairer, more equal[br]health perspective for all.

0:13:31.200,0:13:33.560
So that new generations

0:13:33.560,0:13:38.320
will have even less vulnerability[br]to certain diseases.

0:13:38.320,0:13:39.480
Thank you.

0:13:39.480,0:13:42.710
(Applause)